Post #6

(AFTER REVOLT ATTEMPT)
So, what happened?


We all woke up early in the morning, our kitchen knives hidden beneath our tunics. The Equites gladiator never showed up, and if we didn't leave soon then our plan might fail. So we broke out without him. Strangely, there were many guards surrounding the carriage (later I would wish I paid more attention to what that meant). With a bit of a scuffle plus an alarm that was sounded, we were off. Our pre-determined rendezvous point was outside the Circus Maximus, as there were almost always crowds there and we could get lost in them easily in case we were trailed. Strangely enough, there was no one following us even though the alarm had sounded. That gave me a bad feeling.
Once we arrived at Rome, we split up and went to the Circus from different directions. But the vigilantes (police) were waiting for us. Before we knew it, we were surrounded and captured. I guess the tatoos that were put onto our hands and cheek to signal we were a gladiator were more conspicuous than I thought earlier. We were taken back to the barracks, but we still put up a fight. Three of my Thracian friends were killed, as were the Bestiarius and the Retiarii. All of the Secutores but me and a Thracian  were also injured badly.
Later I learned that the Equites who decided not to join us turned out to be a traitor to our plot. Apparently he loved money more than his fellow gladiators. He was a freeman who volunteered to become a gladiator, so he probably did so for the fame and money.
We have severe punishments. My Secutores friends are all too injured to fight more, so they will be sent into the arena as damnati ad mortem along with the injured Thracian (so they will be condemned to death in the arena, probably to be torn apart by beasts -- I'm just glad that most Romans have the decency not to watch). The rest of us surviving (just the remaining Thracian and I) are condemned to fight in the arena for the rest of our lives.